Sun staff arrested and bailed in police payments investigation

Officers from Operation Elveden made five arrests over the weekend, bringing the total number made by the investigation to 13

Credit: Alberto OG on Flickr. Some rights reserved

Four current and former members of staff at the Sun have been
arrested and bailed by officers from Operation Elveden, and
searches have also been carried out and "concluded" at News
International's office in Wapping.

Officers from
Operation Elveden, the police operation tasked with
investigating payments to police officers, also made a fifth arrest
over the weekend, that of a Metropolitan police service
officer.

According to a statement from the Metropolitan police, four arrests
were made on Saturday (28 January) "on suspicion of corruption
under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, aiding and abetting
misconduct in a public office (contrary to common law) and
conspiracy in relation to both these offences".

Those arrested have been bailed "pending further enquiries", two
until April and the other two until May.

The four past and present Sun staff have not been named by police
or News Corporation but were widely identified in the press over
the weekend as crime editor Mike Sullivan, head of news Chris
Pharo, former deputy editor and now executive editor Fergus
Shanahan and former managing editor Graham Dudman, who according to
reports is now editorial development director at News
International.

The fifth arrest, that of the serving police officer, was made "on
suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act
1906, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office (contrary
to common law) and conspiracy in relation to both these offences".
He also bailed until April.

The MPS said this weekend's arrests were related to "suspected
payments to police officers and [were] not about seeking
journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to
information that has been obtained legitimately."

News Corporation, the parent company of News International,
issued a
statement to say four of the arrests were of current and former
employees.

The company added that its management and standards committee (MSC)
"provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to
[Saturday's] arrests."

"News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable
news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be
repeated.

"It commissioned the management and standards committee (MSC) to
undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of
cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other
authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those
titles."

The company added that it could not make any comment as to "the
nature of that information to avoid prejudicing the investigation
and the rights of individuals".

"The MSC gave the MPS every assistance during the searches of News
International premises while ensuring that all appropriate steps
were taken to protect legal and journalistic privilege.

"It also provided the option of immediate legal representation to
those arrested."

Earlier this month the Independent Police Complaints Commission
arrested a former Metropolitan police officer over alleged leaks to
a journalist, based on information passed to it by Operation
Elveden.

The latest arrests bring the total made by the MPS as part of
Operation Elveden to 13.